Do you have a cause about which you are passionate, but your efforts have not returned the results you had hoped? Unfortunately, social media and blogging can only take you so far.
As a non-profit, or as someone concerned with a cause, funding is limited. So you might think that video marketing is beyond your capabilities, or maybe even too much trouble. However, producing video content is possible
The Power of Video Content
If we want to really see how valuable video marketing is, we should look at some statistics:
- Blogspot reports that video marketing is being hailed as very important to 92% of marketers. Compare that to the 2015 figure, where only 78% said the same thing. This shows that the market for video content has really expanded.
- Wordstream released some incredible figures. Among them, more than 50% of all video content is viewed on mobile devices. Of those videos viewed, Virtuets claims that 92% of those viewers share video content regularly.
- MarketingCharts has predicted that by 2021, the average person will spend 100 minutes per day watching video content.
- According to Youtube stats, 73% of American adults are consistent users of YouTube which is far more than Facebook, with 69% and Instagram with 37%
As you can see, video marketing is powerful and it is worth creating video content. You may still worry that it is too expensive or too difficult. Luckily, neither have to be the case!
Here are some common misconceptions about video marketing and how to get started.
Misconception #1: Video Marketing Requires Expensive Tools
Video marketing doesn’t require you to go out and buy expensive, fancy equipment before you get started. In fact, you may already have what you need right beside you. Smartphones have become incredible replacements for expensive cameras and can capture anything just as well as most digital camera models. You may want to get a tripod to keep it steady, which is fairly inexpensive.
Editing doesn’t have to be a hassle either. Tools like Renderforest are full video makers with a low subscription price and will help you along the way.
Hosting platforms like Vimeo have on-site video editing tools. If you don’t want to do it yourself, Fiverr has a large number of experienced video editors who you can pay to help you out for a much lower price than you would expect.
The point is, you have options that can fit your budget.
Misconception #2: I’m not Skilled enough to Make Videos About My Cause
Maybe you feel a little leery because you have never made a video before. Everyone feels this way when they first start doing video marketing. But you have a secret weapon up your sleeve: your passion for your cause. You are dedicated to seeing your message reach as far as possible, to spread that awareness.
This gives you an eye that you might not know you have. All you have to do is show others what is important to you. Let them see the subject directly, and show them, not just tell them. The results will be incredible.
If you need a quick tip to get started, create a video with many faces in it. It has been scientifically proven, that people relate better to content when they see faces in them. There is something about seeing a human face that gets the neurons in our brain excited and highly active when perceiving it Since most non-profits talk to people’s emotions and ampathy, this tactic perfectly applies to a non-profit video strategy.
Keeping an eye on your competitors or peers and monitoring what they are doing in terms video marketing is another good way to come up with content ideas.
Misconception #3: Getting Started With Video Marketing is too difficult
This is the best one of all. While it seems overwhelming, all it takes to start is a subject that you want to record. What would be most effective at telling the story of your cause? Every video should start out with this question, because you are going to be answering it every time you pick up your camera.
Next, you need to ask yourself what style you are looking for. Are you going to sit in front of the camera and talk? A live shoot? A storytime style video with clips, footage, voice-over and music? You are in control and so you will be deciding what your audience needs to see most and how.
Let’s look at a couple examples to help give you an idea of what has been effective in other non-profit campaigns:
High Jump Providing Tuition-Free School Programs For Middle Schoolers
High Jump is a non-profit that creates educational programs meant to help seventh and eighth grade students increase their knowledge in multiple categories, such as art and science. This video campaign netted them $215,000 donations from viewers.
LifeBuoy On A Mission To Save Children Around The World
Lifebuoy launched a campaign that followed Sangrah, an expecting mother. The purpose was to illustrate their efforts to help with prenatal and postnatal care. Their mission is to help children live to the age of five, which 6 million children per year never reach.
Handwashing was the primary focus on this particular experiment, which can help to strengthen the health of the fetus, as well as the mother. The video is incredibly well made and tells a story that makes you really care about the subject of the film.
Do you see how each of these videos uses a different storytelling style that still gets the message across? They also appealed to the emotional response of the viewer. Each was touching in its own way, but they both target different emotions. You should be asking yourself what emotion each video you create is trying to convey.
To get you started, here are a few helpful resources:
Misconception #4: Picking Metrics to monitor is too confusing
How do you know if your video is successful? For most companies, it would be based on views and conversions.
It is a little more complicated for non-profits and will depend on what you deem most important. Is it based on number of donations? If so, how many donations? Is it important for them to click through to your site? What social media activity are you looking to generate? You choose the metrics, so you control what defines a successful video marketing campaign.
One of the most universal metric monitoring tactics is to keep an eye on conversions a particular traffic source is generating. Finteza is a perfect tool for that because it allows you to easily narrow down your reports to a particular traffic source and measure incoming conversions:
Consumers are itching to support non-profits that promote causes close to their hearts, so your small investment in video marketing will pay off. Make sure to your story and decide on how you’re going to measure the success, and you will gain more support for your cause.
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